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"Note: Twenty-four states, Puerto Rico and the ****** Islands have OSHA-approved State Plans and have adopted their own standards and enforcement policies. For the most part, these States adopt standards that are identical to Federal OSHA. However, some States have adopted different standards applicable to this topic or may have different enforcement policies."

I just want to say that I've done some scuba diving in the ****** Islands. Neat place!

Keep us posted, Jimmy. I think you need to write a letter, respectfully asking questions like you've asked here (incl. the one about your car) and address it to the guy's boss. Use signature confirmation and mail it from the PO.

BB
You mentioned the size of the building and having numerous welding machines, But, how many others work there or are you the owner and SOLE employee? If so then based on Federal Law you are exempt-Don't know if Washington Law is different most States just copy Fed Laws but under Federal Law Self employed with NO employees are exempt as shown below. So if you are a one man show, he needs to go pester someone else. Also the 'red' site has a CD on this topic and how to comply.

As defined by the Act, an employer is any "person engaged in a business affecting commerce who has employees, but does not include the United States or any State or political subdivision of a State." Therefore, the Act applies to employers and employees in such varied fields as manufacturing, construction, longshoring, agriculture, law and medicine, charity and disaster relief, organized labor and private education. Such coverage includes religious groups to the extent that they employ workers for secular purposes.

The following are not covered under the Act:

* Self-employed persons;
* Farms at which only immediate members of the farm employer's family are employed; and
* Working conditions regulated by other federal agencies under other federal statutes.

I'm going to do a little math problem to show you what you're up against.

The PEL for Cr[VI] is 5 micrograms/m^3.

Lets plasma cut a 1/8" thick sheet of 304SS.

304SS is 18-20% Chromium. We will assume it is 19% for the calculation.

We will also assume that in the plasma arc, all metalic chromium is oxidized to the +6 valence. We will use a 1/8" kerf for the calculations as well.

SS has a density of 8000kg/m^3 or 8g/CC. So each CC of stainless has 19% of 8g, or 1.52g chromium.

A cut 1/8" thick by 1/8" wide is .32cmx.32cm. To get 1CC, the cut needs to be 1/(.32^2) or 9.76cm long. This is 3.84" long. This is how long the cut must be to vaporize 1 CC of stainless (which vaporizes 1.52g of chromium).

1.52 grams is 304,000 times 5 micrograms, so you'd need to dilute it in 304,000 cubic meters of air to meet the PEL of 5ug/m^3.

Assuming 16' tall ceilings (4.88m), the empty building of air needed to dilute this amount of chromium would have to be 62,300 sq meters or 671,000 sq feet. This is a 15.4 acre building with 16' high ceilings.

Even if only 1% was oxidized to +6 and suspended in the air, you'd need 6,700 sq feet to dilute it to the PEL!

And thats for cutting about 4" of 1/8" stainless.

How much do you cut in a typical project? 10 feet? 100 feet?

A football field (including end zones) is 360'x160'. If you cut 100 feet of 1/8" stainless, and only 1% stayed airborne, you'd need the air contained over 36.4 football fields with a 16' ceiling to dilute it to the PEL.

So cutting, grinding, and stick welding will put you way over the PEL in a hurry. And drawing it out with negative pressure will put the people downwind above the PEL. But the PEL is so low that even TIG welding might do it.

I'm glad I didn't pi$$ off whoever you pi$$ed off!

80% of failures are from 20% of causesNever compromise your principles today in the name of furthering them in the future."All I ever wanted was an honest week's pay for an honest day's work." -Sgt. Bilko"We are generally better persuaded by reasons we discover ourselves than by those given to us by others." -Pascal"Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything." -Pascal

I also agree with whom ever said because you have no employees you should be exempt.
That was untill Body Bagger spoke to inform us of the fall out that our neighbors would catch.

To bad they dont focus their energy and go after the parents that smoke in the car while their babys are in the back suffacating.

Now that a crime.

After all the welding shops are out of business here in the United States because we dont have a spare $75,000.00 for the air purification and the shops that do wont be competetive with China so we all have to go to China to get a welding job.

I'm just afraid that All the money I make in China to send back to support my family here will be spent on postage it takes to send it.

After seeing the monitoring results at several power plants I've worked at, TIG and MIG welding SS never reached the PEL! Stick welding always passed it in a hurry! Cutting and grinding is always a concern because of particulates. I would try to take a few air samples during a days work and have them analyzed if you can, don't know how costly it is though. That would give you a leg to stand on with the inspector types! hope this helps.